Chimpanzees are highly intelligent and are able to solve many kinds of problems posed to them by human trainers and experimenters. A number of researchers have taught chimpanzees to use sign language or languages based on the display of tokens or pictorial symbols. The implications of these language studies have been contested, however. Critics charge that apes have not acquired true language in the sense of understanding “words” as abstract symbols that can be combined in meaningful new ways. Other investigators maintain that more recent language training has resulted in the chimpanzees’ acquiring a true recognition of “words” as abstractions that can be applied in novel contexts.

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